Sprint and Nokia first to demonstrate in the U.S. a 5G NR connection over Massive MIMO

Companies will showcase the live demonstration at Sprint's booth at Mobile World Congress Americas in Los Angeles

10 September 2018

Mobile World Congress Americas in Los Angeles - Nokia and Sprint will show the first live demonstration in the U.S. of a 5G New Radio (NR) connection over a dual mode-capable Massive MIMO radio, bringing this revolutionary technology one step closer to reality. Shown at Sprint's booth (#S1702) during Mobile World Congress Americas, the companies will use Sprint's 2.5 GHz spectrum, Nokia's commercial AirScale Base Station and Massive MIMO Active Antenna, and a VIAVI TM500 5G test device emulator. The demonstration highlights Sprint's approach using its 2.5 GHz spectrum and game-changing Massive MIMO technology to deploy mobile 5G in the first half of 2019.

This first in the U.S. live 5G NR system connection using a Massive MIMO Active Antenna can support up to 120 MHz of spectrum in 2.5 GHz. The Nokia AirScale Massive MIMO Active Antenna is expected to deliver up to 3 Gbps peak downlink throughput for a single sector over 5G and LTE simultaneously using Sprint's spectrum. This enables Sprint to offer both 4G LTE and 5G on the same radio to continue meeting its customers' demand for unlimited data and high-bandwidth applications. 5G will enable a great experience using 4K and 8K video streaming, and applications such as HD Virtual Reality.

Dr. John Saw, Chief Technology Officer, Sprint, said: "Sprint has long collaborated with Nokia on its Massive MIMO and 5G innovations, and we're excited by this first live 5G NR system connection to help us bring mobile 5G to the U.S. market in the first half of 2019. Because of our large spectrum holdings Sprint is one of the only operators in the world with enough capacity to operate LTE and 5G simultaneously using Massive MIMO and huge licensed channels of 100 MHz of spectrum on the same radios."

Marc Rouanne, President of Mobile Networks, Nokia, said: "This joint 5G NR demonstration using Nokia's Massive MIMO technology is another proof point of our innovative work with Sprint as part of their Next-Gen Network strategy. The significant cell capacity Massive MIMO offers is why the technology is playing a central role in 5G, which will allow Sprint to provide increased coverage, reliability and speed across its nationwide network."

Massive MIMO, invented by Nokia Bell Labs, will be on display with the live 5G NR connection demonstration. Nokia and Sprint will also be showcasing other 5G demonstrations at Sprint's booth, including low latency use cases for public safety and car platooning, and an Augmented Reality demo for Enterprise.

Nokia will also be showing a variety of innovative 5G demonstrations at the Nokia booth (#S.1102 in the South Hall). Mobile World Congress Americas will be held at the Los Angeles Convention Center, Sept. 12-14, 2018.

About Sprint:Sprint (NYSE: S) is a communications services company that creates more and better ways to connect its customers to the things they care about most. Sprint served 54.6 million connections as of June 30, 2018 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; leading no-contract brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. Today, Sprint's legacy of innovation and service continues with an increased investment to dramatically improve coverage, reliability, and speed across its nationwide network and commitment to launching the first 5G mobile network in the U.S. You can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.

About NokiaWe create the technology to connect the world. Powered by the research and innovation of Nokia Bell Labs, we serve communications service providers, governments, large enterprises and consumers, with the industry's most complete, end-to-end portfolio of products, services and licensing.

We adhere to the highest ethical business standards as we create technology with social purpose, quality and integrity. Nokia is enabling the infrastructure for 5G and the Internet of Things to transform the human experience. nokia.com.